GOP voters back Romley opponent

Conservative Republican far ahead of Rick Romley

Conservative Republican challenger Bill Montgomery held a strong lead over interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley Tuesday night in the GOP primary.

The spoiler was Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn, who dropped out of the race in July, but whose name remained on the ballot. Tens of thousands of East Valley residents cast their votes for him, and it may have taken votes from Romley.

Montgomery acknowledged as much, but he felt confident.

"This spread is going to hold," he said. "I'm excited. I'm grateful for the support, and I'm looking forward to taking over."

Romley wasn't ready to concede.

"It's a wide spread, and it will be hard to make up. But it can be made up," Romley said. "If it doesn't change, I want to wish him the best."

The election would not have been held until 2012, but on April 1, Andrew Thomas resigned as county attorney to run for attorney general, and the county was forced to call a special election for November.

Tuesday's win likely clinches the job. There are no Democrats running, and Tuesday's winner faces Libertarian Michael Kielsky, who took a distant third in the 2008 election behind Thomas and Democrat Tim Nelson.

As soon as the winner is certified in November, he will take office immediately instead of waiting for January, when winners in the general election take office.

Like most races this year, the battle for county attorney was a litmus test on Senate Bill 1070, the state's new immigration law. Romley said he would enforce the law, but he initially questioned parts of it. Montgomery, who garnered support from the Republican Party's conservative wing, characterized the questions as a refusal to enforce the law.

But the race also was a referendum on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who threw his support behind Montgomery and bankrolled TV commercials against Romley. Despite Romley's complaints, on Tuesday, an attorney for the county Elections Department ruled that the commercials were legal, though an Arpaio mailer was deemed an improper campaign donation to Montgomery.

Shortly after being named interim county attorney in April - a position Montgomery also sought - Romley rolled back some of Thomas' more aggressive policies for prosecuting those suspected of being in the country illegally. Montgomery has vowed to reinstate the practice of charging those accused of being in the country illegally as co-conspirators with the people who those accused of smuggling them into the state.